2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Capstone design courses prepare students for professional practice as they learn critical skills and work on real-world design projects. Through appropriate scaffolding, students can develop sociotechnical skills that leverage technical knowledge along with attention to social and contextual factors for a more holistic approach to engineering. The Center for Socially Engaged Engineering and Design (C-SED) developed the Sociotechnical Engineering Toolkit (SET), a collection of resources and lessons to provide training on the skills needed to account for social and contextual dimensions of engineering work. While prior research explored how students adopted recommended sociotechnical engineering and design practices within capstone design courses, limited research examined how these skills translated into workplace activities.

This study examined how mechanical engineering graduates applied skills developed through Sociotechnical Engineering Toolkit (SET) modules in their professional work. In the capstone course, SET modules focused on design requirements and specifications, design interviewing, concept generation and development, and concept selection and prototyping. Six graduates were recruited for semi-structured interviews from a wide variety of fields, including automotive, construction, energy, and manufacturing. In their industry positions, these graduates described the importance of translating customer needs into quantifiable specifications, using specifications to guide their projects, working with diverse stakeholders to gather information needed for their projects, considering multiple concepts for their design work, and using low-fidelity prototypes to gather information. Additionally, graduates described that the use of skills related to SET modules depended on their role, as they may not be engaged in particular design activities. This study demonstrated that training provided by the SET modules aligned with workplace activities for recent mechanical engineering graduates, equipping them with the skills necessary for professional practice.